Missouri Attorney General Hawley Suing Opioid Manufacturers For Fraud

by ABC 30 News

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley filed a lawsuit he says could be one of the largest in Missouri history, against three large drug manufacturing companies for fraud. The lawsuit says the companies fraudulently misrepresented the risks drugs made by Purdue Pharmaceutical, Endo Pharmaceuticals, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. It says these companies violated Missouri’s consumer-protection laws and Medicaid statutes by committing fraud.

ST. LOUIS —

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley filed a lawsuit he says could be one of the largest in Missouri history, against three large drug manufacturing companies for fraud.

The lawsuit says the companies fraudulently misrepresented the risks drugs made by Purdue Pharmaceutical, Endo Pharmaceuticals, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. It says these companies violated Missouri’s consumer-protection laws and Medicaid statutes by committing fraud.

Hawley says that years of prescription drug abuse, in many cases leading to harder drugs like heroin has had a devastating effect on the state. The Attorney General says that a campaign

The Missouri lawsuit seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in damages as well as civil penalties.

In a Wednesday morning news conference, Hawley addressed facts on opioid abuse in Missouri. Hawley says that in 2015, medical records show more than 30,000 hospitalizations and emergency-room visits because of opioids, nearly a 200% increase in the past ten years. Also, 500 Missourians died from opioid overdoses or complications in 2015.

Missouri lawmakers have attempted to pass laws monitoring prescription drug use, but with heavy opposition from critics who say such a program is a violation of privacy. St. Louis County recently implemented a monitoring program,